I’ve just published a new piece on what fans really value – and it’s not just trophies. A study highlights 6 factors: history, community, handling criticism, professionalism, passion & loyalty. Any club can deliver on these 👉 onlrl.co/tqvshn

Great example of how to showcase players’ personalities. Barnsley have stayed away from the typical headshots for something a bit more dynamic. It makes things feel more human and engaging. And it’s a nice little Easter egg for fans who visit the team pages. Personality beats polish.

428 posts. 31.8 million likes. 280k comments. The Premier League’s opening weekend wasn’t just on the pitch, it was on Instagram too. Liverpool might have led the way with 12.7m likes, but Bournemouth and Sunderland stole the spotlight on engagement. Read more 👇 onlrl.co/ceylw6

Did a dive into which clubs grew their Instagram followings the most last season. The main stand-out is Oxford United. They grew by over 300%, with the main growth happening after the signing of Marselino Ferdinand in the summer window.

With the news that Italy’s Serie A now has an official Reddit account, I had a look at what that means and how sports teams have used the platform in the past (spoiler: not very well). #SportsMarketing | #DigiSport onlrl.co/qi4yut

This from @milkkarten.bsky.social’s Link In Bio (fantastic all around) is a really insightful look at what goes on for marketing teams behind the scenes. It’s around the Super Bowl, so a bit atypical, but fascinating to see the process. #SportsMarketing open.substack.com/pub/milkkart...

I really like this pre-match email from MK Dons. I think there's a template here that more clubs should follow to ensure their emails are useful. Firstly, a link through to a written match preview and interviews about this game. #SportsMarketing | #DigiSport

A lot of pros are turning to LinkedIn in anticipation of their post-football careers, as well as what’s covered here. We’ve seen managers like Jesse Marsch start posting, and the likes of Jordan Henderson and Raphael Varane too. Clubs could be better at it. There’s a lot of untapped potential.

Really like it when clubs use photography like this. They show what the match day experience is really like from the perspective of fans. It's a great and unique angle to use in your build-up content. Helps when they look great as well. Solid work from @newcastleunited.com. #SportsMarketing

This is a great example of how teams can use content produced by supporters' groups and travelling fans. In this case, West Ham spotted a fan was heading over from America for a game and met up with him to document his day. This was pushed by the club's US account as well as the league's.

This week marks 11 years of The Online Rule. Don’t think I had any idea when I set up the initial site back then that I’d still be posting and following sports marketing all this time later. Thanks to everyone who’s engaged, followed, and subscribed.

More evidence that teams should be trying to tap into the pre-engaged worldwide communities on Reddit. Some of this growth is down to search engine changes, but it’s always been a popular site.

If I ever get invited onto @footballcliches.bsky.social’s MHDs I’ll use all 3 of my irritations to explain why clubs referring to their social media manager as “admin” should be punishable by relegation.

Brentford’s Gen10 is a perfect example of how to ensure there’s a future generation who get to experience live football; they’re capping junior tickets for home and away fans at £10. Actions speak a lot louder than words. www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/arti...

I’ve taken a look at what teams are doing to make match days memorable for fans. Take a look at examples including game-specific info on websites, and social posts from SLOs. A lot of clubs focus on bringing people in, not making them want to return. theonlinerule.com/making-the-m...

If we’re talking about audience size as a reason for adopting platforms, I’ve never understood why sports teams aren’t all over Reddit. It’s now more popular than Twitter in the UK. #SportsMarketing amp.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Must be Black Friday!

Continuing to update my list of official English team accounts. I’ve tried to verify these by either speaking to staff, through their domain, or from their posts on other sites. Let me know if I’ve missed any. Will do lists for Scotland and lower English leagues next. bsky.app/profile/did:...

Missed Everton joining, but look at this! If you want a case study in how to set up your Bluesky presence this ticks all the boxes. They have a verified domain and they’ve extended this to subdomains for other languages and teams. And grouped them all together in a starter pack. 10/10, no notes.

Everton have introduced an interactive tool so fans can see what the view is like from different seats in their new stadium. It’s really useful, but also something all clubs should have anyway. via @paddyboyland.bsky.social #SportsMarketing evertonstadium.io-media.com/web/index.html

Another team that’s seemingly chosen matchday to become active. Not 100% if this one is official or not (something something verification) but it certainly looks legit enough.

Good to see Brighton being pro-active with their replies (they’ve always been one of the better clubs for this). They’ve got this profile linked from Instagram to prove it’s authentic. And the official Bluesky handle will be coming soon.

Brighton are one of the newest teams to launch their Bluesky account, and have decided to use a match day to do so.

Chelsea have been fairly active on here for a while, but they’re not covering the game itself. Not even any squad news or a half-time update. This is the only mention of the match today.

Leeds are now on Bluesky. And we know it’s them because they’ve verified their domain name and made it their handle - exactly what all clubs should be doing. #SportsMarketing

Note to football clubs on all platforms: You can update your bio regularly. It’s not a bad thing. Like what @aberdeenfc.bsky.social have done here to promote their next fixture. #SportsMarketing

Here’s a really great example of some personal branding, and using club comms to tell individual stories. Firstly, Southampton Women identified fans who’ve followed the club the longest and paid them a visit with a gift. That’s nice enough on its own, but there’s a bit more. #SportsMarketing

Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot has joined LinkedIn. It’s quite a savvy move for footballers thinking about a career after their playing days are over. Especially if that’s going to involve some form of business involvement. #SportsMarketing uk.linkedin.com/in/diogo-dal...

Managing multiple accounts? Like a personal account and a team one? 👀 You can add new profiles under settings. And then quickly change between them by long-pressing your avatar in the bottom right. That gives you this pop-up. (Make sure you’ve got the latest version of the app) #SportsMarketing

Here’s a really great example of some personal branding, and using club comms to tell individual stories. Firstly, Southampton Women identified fans who’ve followed the club the longest and paid them a visit with a gift. That’s nice enough on its own, but there’s a bit more. #SportsMarketing

It seems incredibly inconvenient that @footballcollective.bsky.social visits Newcastle for the 2 days I’m out of the city. Some great digital topics up for discussion. Looking forward to following along on here where possible.

Newcastle United are now active on Bluesky.

This piece on F1, from @michaelbochel.bsky.social’s brilliant Marketing Assist newsletter, is a great insight into the rise of ‘admin culture’ in the sport. Some thoughts in the 🧵 that follows. #SportsMarketing www.motorsport.com/f1/news/the-...

@aberdeenfc.bsky.social are a fantastic example of how investing in an experience - and families - can pay dividends with attendances. From debating whether to open a stand on match days to seeing it packed out in under three years. #SportsMarketing www.linkedin.com/posts/gormal...

Looking to move over and want a replacement for TweetDesk? @deck.blue has you covered. #SportsMarketing

A good starter pack if you’re interested in football research. Missing one good account though 👀

One of the most popular things I’ve written about #SportsMarketing is this look at email marketing among English football teams. I signed up to as many of the top 92 clubs’ mailing lists as I could and looked at what they sent out. It’s an underutilised channel. theonlinerule.com/efl-premier-...

Realised too late that I probably should have put a 🧵 icon in this post, given it’s not immediately obvious it’s a thread. One to keep in mind here!

Another German team leaving X and moving over here. This time it’s @werderbremen.bsky.social, saying that they’re “taking a clear stance against hatred, hate speech, discrimination and exclusion”. #SportsMarketing www.werder.de/en/latest/ne...

💡 Tip: You can set your website as your username on Bluesky! This is one form of self-verification, and we especially encourage official organizations and brands to do this! Examples include @npr.org @react.dev @duolingobrasil.com.br. Here's our guide for how to do this:

Where’s the #SportsMarketing and #Digisport people then? Always after the community.

Interesting to see cricket clubs moving over too.

If a sports team was to create an official account on Bluesky… Would you want the same content or different that they currently post on X/Twitter? What posts would you like to see more/less of? Is there any content in particular not posted on X/Twitter that you’d like to see on Bluesky?

Here’s a starter pack of official U.K. team accounts. I’ve been able to verify some from speaking to staff, others because they’ve posted to other platforms signposting here. However they might not all be official (I’ll update as I learn more). go.bsky.app/2zhDQBz

Here’s a starter pack of North American teams that have joined BlueSky in case you’re looking to see how teams are using it. go.bsky.app/HgJuQra

Juventus are fairly active on here now too.

A few native uses for Bluesky that I can see being useful for sports teams.

Northampton are here now too.

If your account says your handle is invalid, here’s how to sort it.

Lincoln are over here now too. Showing ‘handle.invalid’ for me at the moment, but it’s them!